R writes to ask when i find the time to dig out all these things. I suspect being unemployed has something to do with it? I also suspect that a lot of ageing gits like me are populating the blogosphere? And remember for the last three weeks or so I have not been up against it in Dhaka…indeed I have not been in a plane for almost three weeks now. This must be a record? Here is a list of books i have purchased to read over the next three months or so here in cambridge or on those singapore airline flights (at least two left). I will review many of them in the link on your right which reads “Stuff I am consuming.” What’s the point I hear you say? Dunno mate. But if you wish to discuss any of these - you will know where to find me.

• Forget Kathmandu, An Elegy for Democracy by Manjushree Thapa
• Al-Jazeera: How Arab TV news challenged the world by Hugh Miles
• Hidden Agendas by John Pilger
• Interesting Times in India, A short decade at St. Stephen’s College, by Daniel O’Connor
• Bookless in Baghdad Shashi Tharoor
• Island of Blood: Frontline Reports from Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and other South Asian Flashpoints by Anita Pratap
• From Independence Towards Freedom: Indian women since 1947 Edited by Bharati Ray and Aparna Basu
• Guru Dutt: A life in Cinema by Nasreen Munni Kabir
• Age of Fear: Power versus Principle in the War on Terror by Amitav Acharya
• Karachi, A Terror Capital in the Making by Wilson John
• Sharon and my Mother-in-Law, Ramallah Diaries by Suad Amiry
• Why Muslims Rebel, Repression and Resistance in the Islamic World by Mohammed M. Hafez
• Can Asians Think? Understanding the divide between East and West by Kishore Mahbubani
• Power and Terror, Post-9/11 Talks and Interviews by Noam Chomsky
• Greg Dyke, Inside Story by Greg Dyke
• Bob Dylan, Chronicles Volume One
• Letters from Robben Island, A Selection of Ahmed Kathrada’s prison correspondence 1964-1989

Well, it seems that the media in South Africa are still not running with the scandal of the Washington lobbyist Abramoff and his shady links with apartheid spooks and Tony Leon (the leader of the Democratic Alliance in South Africa, pictured above). Wayne Madsen says he has been threatened after he published his exclusive, and the Mail and Guardian in South Africa which made mention of this dirty business on the 20th January in an article by Claudia Braude headlined “A blast from the past” and “United States scandal revives apartheid-era dirty tricks of top Democratic Alliance official” does not feature the article on the web anymore. Spooky or what? And are the ANC too mired in their own scandals to highlight it?

Wayne Madsen has an exclusive on the links between Tony Leon and some nasty apartheid spies. Read it HERE. The entries are Jan21 and Jan22. Tony Leon is the leader of the Democratic Alliance, the official opposition to the ANC government. Craig Williamson, a particularly plump nasty responsible for many important killings, and old Tony Leon are best of buddies it looks like. Thanks to D in Joburg for the link. Why haven’t the press in SA run with it yet? Or have they? Lemme know.

A very controversial “elite” police outfit was created in Bangladesh in 2004 ostensibly to do something about the law and order breakdown. It is called the Rapid Action Battalion or RAB. Human Rights lawyers and international organisations have been worried about the number of deaths in custody and/or so-called crossfire incidents resulting out of RAB deployment. Here is a BBC report about it. The Foreign Minister Kim Howells has talked about it in parliament a few days ago. The European Parliament condemned (pdf file) it last year. Human Rights Watch January 2006  (pdf file) also talks about RAB.

My interest is elsewhere. My interest is in what they wear. They are dressed from head to toe in black. And their headgear is in the best tradition of Ninjas. And my question is why? Take a look at their web site. It is slow loading so you might want to look at a screen shot below instead

Does this remind you of an elite agency or do you feel, at least from the flash banner at the top, that this is a shoot-em up Nintendo game site or some sort of action man site? And the site itself is interactive (Live chat, feedback forms etc) - nothing like it exists for other government agencies in Bangladesh. And you have to ask yourself one thing - “why?” Where did the inspiration come from? Is it just bad concept design by the web agency given the job and an unsophisticated commissioning officer who okayed it? Or is there more to it? Surely the ninja bandana suggests a sustained effort in the aesthetics of this? And not just an unwitting outcome? Does this garb, and all the urban legends, help to depoliticise this creature RAB in the eyes of the citizenry? Certainly the middle classes have swallowed hook, line and sinker the crossfire stories…and in anycase, they say, the criminals would get off scot-free if they were given over to the judiciary…

Bangladesh is not unique. It seems paramilitary or elite forces need to take a beefcake approach to things. Take a gander at these South Koreans….

Today I went to South Africa House, London to collect my signed copy of Imtiaz Cajee’s book about Ahmed Timol. Timol was the detainee who was dropped from a ten storey building to his death by apartheid police. MH is visiting Cambridge for a few days and he accompanied me. We had an interesting time looking around South Africa House. We were given a tour by MT who like all South African ANC chaps was very hospitable and welcoming. It was very worthwhile looking around. All the apartheid era paraphernalia is still there – a testimony to the moral strength of the new owners of the place. I couldn’t help remembering the last time I was there though ….it was some years ago and I was in the company of a most strikingly beautiful south african woman and so didn’t notice as much as I did this time! That is how progressive I am!

Get this. Mr Rupert Murdoch has been given an award by the Simon Wiesenthal Center in recognition of his support of Israel. They call it a humanitarian award. I mean what the…How much do you bet this was a tax write-off?

As I was saying to M the other day - Israel’s great successes in some areas go unnoticed. Jews in the UK who go to Israel and buy retirement homes do not see it as a political act. Non-jewish people who go to kibbutz (yes young and totally naive I know) don’t see it is a political act. And so this giving of millions to Israel by this arch-shite is not a political act but a humanitarian one. This depoliticisation is some achievement by Israel. And Nicole? Why was she giving the award?? The reason given is that she is also from Oz. Yeah right. It wasn’t to make it seem non-political and show-bizzy by any chance? Read the story HERE.

Here are some snaps from our travels in 2005. Best is of Pavel in “Electric city,” Tokyo. Check the look of disgust brought on by the fact that none of the shops had gameboy advance games….still he got into gundams there. Wait, do I suspect you dont know what gundams are…?
Some of the pics are phone shots and hence a bit below average. Click HERE. The places are: Paris, Joburg, Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Dhaka.

Three cheers for liberal billionaire George Soros. He goes to Sing and he speaks his mind: Singapore does not qualify as an open socieity. Read here.

Islam and Sex. Everything you ever wanted to know but were too afraid to ask. Check it out here. Singapore has some antiquated sex laws too…its not just chewing gum that is banned. If you chew anything else its also banned. Yup.

I got to my desk around 4.30am this morning. In front of my keyboard there is a pen in the shape of a syringe filled with what looks like blood and there is a Michael Sowa card of his painting “Spinne am Morgen.” It depicts a huge bulbous spider sitting on the wall above a bed with a couple sleeping blissfully. I am wondering…why the hell do i have such items on my desk? The answer is simple. My life has taken a totally surreal turn. I am no longer in control of anything and the absurdity of it all is quite something.

Anyway, there is a date ahead of us. 11th February for the repatriation of my parents back to the UK. If that doesn’t break this strange situation I am in, nothing will.

Well my friend S quit the finance ministry and now she is working for the World Bank in South Africa. And guess what? Yup she has already managed to meet Evo Morales. I mean…what can i say? Well done? I hate you? I hope you took Misu along, S. The closest I will get to good old Evo is probably when I visit La Paz one of these days. Laura and I had every intention of going to La Paz on our honeymoon but there was a railway strike. So we spent a strange few days by Lake Titicaca in Puno (Peru). One night I thought I would annoy the chef and asked for something not on the menu - veal done milanese style. He said nothing and put the phone down. A few minutes later the tastiest veal Milanese ever arrived….